Marcia Gay Harden - Seasons of My Mother

From one of America’s most revered actresses comes a poetic and inspiring memoir that illustrates the uniqueness, beauty, and unforgettable love of motherhood.

In The Seasons of My Mother: a Memoir of Love, Family, and Flowers, Marcia Gay Harden uses the imagery of flowers and Ikebana to depict the unique creative bond she has had with her mother Beverly throughout the years—and how, together, they are facing her mother’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. She describes the seasons of her mother’s life and Beverly’s devotion to Ikebana, the Japanese art of of flower arrangement, which she discovered when her young family was stationed in Japan. Throughout, Marcia weaves in the story of her own journey from precocious young girl to budding artist to Academy Award-winning actress.

With a razor-sharp wit, as well as the kind of emotional honesty that has made her performances resonate with audiences worldwide, Marcia describes the family’s travels overseas, her flourishing career in New York and Hollywood, and, most poignantly, Beverly’s struggles today to maintain her identity as she tackles her greatest challenge yet: Alzheimer’s disease.

Marcia Gay Harden is one of the most celebrated actors of her generation. In 1993, she originated for Broadway the now-iconic role of Harper Pitt in Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, a performance that earned her a Tony Award nomination. In 2001, she won an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her portrayal of the painter Lee Krasner in Pollock and in 2009, she won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her portrayal of Veronica in Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage. Her films include Miller’s Crossing, The First Wives Club, Mystic River (for which she received a second Academy Award nomination), Into the Wild, Magic in the Moonlight, and Fifty Shades of Grey. Her television credits include Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Newsroom, How to Get Away with Murder, and Code Black. She holds a BA in Acting from the University of Texas at Austin and an MFA from the Graduate Acting Program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. She was also a 2018 recipient of the The Senator William and Ellen Proxmire Award.